The Domino Effect
by Resplendent Purity
Summary: No matter how uneventful one's life is, it only takes one extraordinary occurrence to trigger the next. A young girl named Cynthia sets off on what she thinks is only going to be an errand. Through a series of misadventures, she ends up battling against forces darker than she could have imagined. And somewhere along the way, a Champion is born.


**Prologue**

 _"The flow of time never stops...The past, future, and present..."_

"So this one is Dialga..."

 _"Space is ever-expanding dimensions...Our spirits, too, are as space..."_

"And this one is Palkia..."

"Cynthiaaa!"

The young girl huffed and sat back, brushing her short blonde hair behind her head. She beheld two large etchings, both easily dwarfing her in size, to the sides of a cave entrance. On the left, in faded blue and grey, was depicted a four-legged, almost equine creature. On the right, a more traditional draconic figure adorned the wall in shades of dull pink. Similarly etched into the murals were symbols in an unknown language, presumably what the girl had been reading. "Just a few more minutes!" She implored.

"You said that an hour ago!"

"Oh fine..." She huffed, getting up and brushing the dirt off her dress. Sending one last imploring look at the murals, she turned and ran towards the stairs leading to her house behind the murals.

"Honestly," huffed the child's grandmother, who had been calling for her. "I know it's what your parents did, but still..." And with that, the old woman stepped back into the house.

Cynthia followed her inside, face having fallen a little at the mention of her parents.

* * *

Celestic Town isn't for most people. It's nice, quite, and idyllic, but nothing really ever happens there. That's probably why the population is almost completely made up of the elderly. Most of the younger people move out in hopes of finding, if not better, then at least more interesting, lives. Just about the only thing there is the shrine and some old cave paintings dedicated to legends long-forgotten by pretty much everyone not living in the town. It's great for preserving heritage, but terrible in terms of being at all engaging. It's just not somewhere most younger people would choose to be.

Of course, you don't really have a choice when your parents die, do you?

Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but not altogether too uncommon. When your parents are archaeologists the risk of them dying in rockslides or landslides or other hazardous terrain-related accidents is a real possibility. It just so happened that mine drew the short stick and my sister and I were shipped off to Celestic Town, where our grandparents still lived.

Kids in Celestic Town are extremely rare. You sometimes see a couple of them visiting alongside their parents who have come to see _their_ parents. Typically they go stir-crazy before too long. Kids that _live_ there are practically nonexistent. I know that my sister and I were the only ones when we were there. I wouldn't be too surprised if there still aren't any more. Suffice to say that it's not really a normal place to grow up in.

Still, it wasn't all that bad. Celestic Town's one attraction is its connections to old myths and legends and like my parents I was always enamored with them, even after the unfortunate accident. My sister was never really very social and often got sick, so the clean air and peaceful atmosphere of Celestic was perfect for her. If we had both ended up living there until we were as old as our caretakers, we probably would have been fine with it. But life is never that simple.

Now, it wasn't that I had never given any thought to leaving the village in my life. I didn't hate the idea either. It just wasn't really something I'd ever really wanted. I was always far too busy reading legends of Sinnoh's creation. Couple that with the fact that Celestic Town's isolated location made both human and Pokémon visitors scarce and you see how it really wouldn't even be feasible for me to think of going on such a journey. But sometimes the powers that be have other plans for you, and for me, it all started with an egg.

* * *

It was the dead of night when I was woken up by a loud banging on our front door accompanied by a voice frantically yelling for help. I knew my grandparents would be able to get it, but being a curious sort, I snuck downstairs and hid behind the stairwell to see what was going on. In the pale light I could just barely make out a figure carrying another person across his back. As my grandparents lead the two inside, I heard snatches of the conversation that occurred.

"...attacked...Absol..."

"Found nearby..."

Before I could hear any more, I heard footsteps coming my way and hurried back up before I could get caught.

I couldn't really get any sleep after that, so I just lay in bed until around six in the morning, when Grandma called my sister and I for a family meeting. And when the elder of Celestic Town calls for you, you listen.

As we walked into the living room the first thing that I noticed was the green-spotted egg on the kitchen table. Sharing a look with my sister, we sat down at the table across from our grandparents and waited for them to explain. It was a while before they started talking again, as if they weren't quite sure what they wanted to say about it themselves.

"Well," started my grandmother, rubbing her forehead, "Last night we had a pair of visitors who were in a bit of trouble, although I'm sure Cynthia knows about it already." She gave me a look and I didn't even try to look innocent. When Grandma knew, she _knew._

Grandpa picked up where she left off. "After we helped them on their way, one of them insisted on giving us something for our troubles, and wouldn't take no for an answer so...here it is." At that, he nodded at the egg and all of us were once again left staring as four. "Now, we certainly aren't able to raise this Pokémon when it hatches, and the Center here is only starting to be built."

That was the most exciting thing that had happened since we had gotten here - the League had finally seen fit to construct a Pokémon Center in Celestic Town now that Eterna City had a Gym. Suddenly, a relatively larger amount of trainers were traversing through the village as they went from Veilstone to Eterna or vice versa. Not too many, as most had Pokémon capable of flight, but enough that the utility would be appreciated.

"The nearest place that we can take this to is Solaceon Town and leave it at their daycare, but that could take days and our health and duties simply won't allow for that." he continued. "Cynthia, we considered having you take it instead, but neither of us are comfortable with you going off alone without a single Pokémon. For now we'll have to wait for another trai-"

Whatever he was about to say was cut off as the egg on the table suddenly started glowing, pieces cracking off of it rapidly. We all stared mesmerized until the egg had completely shattered, leaving a blue and red creature with a large fin, stumpy arms and legs, and a huge mouth with huge teeth.

"Um..." I started

Clearly this wasn't the right response because the Pokémon immediately latched onto my head with its mouth

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

* * *

"Keep that thing away from me!"

My sister very clearly was trying not to laugh as she bandaged my head. "Oh calm down, Cynthia. Grandpa already retrieved a Pokéball for the Pokémon to live in. You're safe from the...very tiny monster. Heehee."

I huffed. "I'm so glad even my own family doesn't care about my pain. I could have brain damage, Alice! At the very least, there's Pokémon drool in my hair!"

"Oh I'm sure you'll live."

A rap on the door. "If her highness is properly cared for, her grandmother would like to enter now."

"Denied."

Completely ignoring me, Grandma walked in anyway. To my utter horror in her hand she held a little red and white sphere containing what would soon be my death if I didn't escape immediately. Unfortunately, such dreams were clearly not to be as my grandmother spoke up again. "Now I'm sure you would like nothing better than to never see this Gible again, Cynthia, but especially now that its hatched, we still need someone to deliver it to the daycare in Solaceon Town. On the plus side, now that it's hatched, you have a Pokémon that can help you along your journey."

I glared at her fiercely while shifting to get as much distance between me and the ball. "You just want to get rid of me, don't you? Don't lie!"

"Oh Cynthia..." My grandma smiled and shook her head, before shifting into a more serious look. "To tell the truth, your grandfather and I have been discussing how we could allow you to go beyond this town for a while now."

I was shocked speechless.

Taking this as a cue to continue, my grandmother did just that. "Celestic Town might be perfectly fine for old men and women, but I don't think a child should spend their entire life here. Even your mother left around your age, you know."

"But..." I found my voice again. "I don't...really need to..."

"I'm sure of that, and you never brought up leaving, so we didn't bring it up either. However, with the current...situation...you have an opportunity to at least go as far as the next town over. It could open your eyes to the world beyond this village. I don't want to pressure you though, so it's up to you."

The thing with my grandmother is, she is very good at being forceful while saying the opposite. With her standing there, holding out the Pokéball, eyebrow lifted and expectantly awaiting my response, what choice did I really have?


End file.
